A strategic review on gallium oxide based power electronics: Recent progress and future prospects

Silicon based power devices have limited capabilities in terms of voltage handling and switching speeds, leading to rampant research in the field of next generation wide bandgap semiconductors like SiC, GaN, and Ga 2 O 3 . Amongst these, gallium oxide with its ultra-wide bandgap of 4.6-4.9 eV and high breakdown field (approx. 8 MV cm -1 ) turns out to be a potential replacement. Availability of large size, high-quality wafers at moderate costs make it desirable even from industrial viewpoint. Ga 2 O 3 power diodes having breakdown voltages (V br ) of hundreds of Volts have been reported. However, they suffer from very high on-resistance (R on ) leading to increased switching losses and decreased switching speed. This timely review analyses the recent progress made in Ga 2 O 3 based power devices with detailed discussion on the basic parameters such as V br , R on and leakage current along with the factors critically affecting them. Special focus is laid on the impeccable value-additive extreme environment applications. Open challenges plaguing the field such as trade-off between achieving high V br and low R on simultaneously, shortcomings in the material itself and the need for new physics to explain the high energy carrier transport is also explored along with the future prospects required to achieve true power-saving and commercialization. • Physics behind power device parameters and effect on the performance is explained. • Extensive outlook is provided on the current status of Ga 2 O 3 based power devices. • Effects of temperature, defects, growth methods on power devices are discussed. • High radiation hardness of Ga 2 O 3 and its extreme environmental uses are emphasized. • Open challenges and future prospects of Ga 2 O 3 based power devices are elucidated.